You Can Never Go Back
by PolarBearMagus
Summary: Aang and Katara meet two years after the war. Oneshot.


A/N: This is a sad little one-shot about Aang and Katara meeting so many years after the war ends. Enjoy!

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"The Avatar is coming." 

"He's coming tonight."

"The Avatar will be here tonight."

Such were the whispers in the Great Hall. Katara could just hear them as she passed by the nobles and wealthy families of the Fire Nation. They had come from all over the capital to celebrate New Year's at the palace. Normally Katara enjoyed such festivities, but not tonight.

She circled the hall in an elegant blue kimono, the small water-skins attached to her arms hidden by long billowing sleeves. She didn't want to be caught off guard, but a water-skin slung on her back spoiled her outfit.

"The Avatar is coming," they whispered beneath the silken fabric.

Aang.

When had she seen him last? Ah yes, it would have been at the end of the war, after they had defeated the Fire Lord. That was only two years ago, but it felt like an eternity. She could still see his goofy grin as he called "hey Katara, watch this!" before he performed some stunt.

The whispers turned into mutters. Heads whipped around as their owners craned for a glimpse of the entrance to the hall.

She turned to look. A large crowd had gathered, but it slowly started moving across the room, with a single person at the center. He was wearing a brown traveling cloak, and his staff was nothing out of the ordinary, but there was no mistaking that bright blue arrow.

Avatar Aang had arrived.

Katara didn't try to analyze her feelings. They were a complete scramble of emotion. But she did wonder what he might be thinking. Would he be happy to see her? Upset that she wasn't the same waterbending teacher he had left behind?

As if he could hear her thoughts, he glanced over at her. He could always find her in any crowd. A lesser person would have jumped, but she smiled reassuringly. In that instant, she could tell he had changed. His storm-gray eyes, once so telling, were now impossible to read. He smiled back, but it didn't reach those eyes.

And then he was past her, turning to one of the dozens clamoring for his attention.

When he reached the thrones, Fire Lord Zuko and his wife stood, bowed, exchanged other niceties, and invited him to sit down. Katara watched them talk, finally ignored by the courtiers out of respect for the Fire Lord. It was strange. Even though she lived in the same city as Zuko, she almost never talked to him. She was as distant with him as she was with Toph, even her own brother Sokka.

With an internal sigh, Katara turned back to her roaming of the halls. She kept one eye on Aang, but he determinedly didn't look at her.

When he was finished talking with Zuko, Aang stepped down from the dais and spoke with his friends among the Fire Nation. He pointedly ignored her. Katara spent all night trying to talk to him, but he was always carried away by someone else.

When one of her best friends took him aside she gave up, and went out to the front steps. The ceremonial guards at the doors were gone, having been dismissed for the night. Frowning, Katara drained one of her water-skins and began whipping the stream of water around.

Suddenly, it flew out of her control, back towards the hall. With a cry, she spun around to find her water in the hands of someone else.

"You've gotten better," Aang observed. He sent the water back, and she slid it into her water-skin.

"So have you," she said carefully. "I've heard the tales."

He shook his head with an embarrassed smile. "Half of those aren't even true." Then his face fell. "I've heard tales about you too," he said.

"Naturally."

He paused. "You're very beautiful," he said.

"Don't." Aang felt like he'd been slapped.

From the hall they could hear the musicians start up another song. It just seemed to increase the awkwardness.

"I haven't heard from you in _two years_," she accused. "Toph and Sokka have both sent me letters, if only occasionally."

"Well, I've been a lot busier than Toph or Sokka!"

"Oh really?" she snapped. "Sorry for bothering the all-powerful Avatar, but I thought he was my friend!"

Aang closed his eyes, which were close to sparking. When he opened them a moment later, the storm had passed, but the clouds still remained. "I'm sorry."

They were silent for several minutes. Katara debated whether they should just leave it at that and she should go inside.

"You could come with me," he suggested quietly. "You could come, and we could travel together, just like old times."

He looked at her so hopefully, so eagerly, it near broke her heart to say what she had to.

"No."

She wanted to turn around so she couldn't see his face, but she stood her ground.

"No, Aang. We can't. It wouldn't be like old times at all, and to pretend that it would be is just...I'm married now. You're the Avatar. You have your life, and I have mine. And we've both changed in ways we don't care to admit. It can never be the same again. We've chosen our paths, and they don't intersect. So I have to say no. Because we can never go back, Aang."

"But –"

"We can never go back." And she returned to the great hall, leaving him on the front steps.

A few minutes later, a ghostly shape flew past the hall's windows, but Katara didn't see it because of the tears in her eyes. She would see him again, of course, but it would never be the same.

Wishing with all her heart that it wasn't true, she whispered to herself, "We can never go back."


End file.
